Evergreen Brick Works… or as Aidan would call it- Sick Bricks

We woke up this morning with Kendall coughing pretty badly and me not feeling so well. I let Kendall sleep in a little bit so we didn't make it to church this morning :-(

Daddy still wanted us to go out as a family as it's the last long weekend until school starts on Tuesday. I suggested we go to Evergreen Brick Works.  I had heard about this place from my co-worker and she said it would be a great place to take the kids. I didn't think daddy would oblige as Evergreen Brick Works is close to downtown and he never likes going there. 

It was a scorcher of a day. I think it was close to 40°!

There was a beautiful pond at the Weston Quarry Garden where you and Kendall looked at turtles, tadpoles
and bugs. 

Lounging by the red Adirondack chairs by the pond.

You knew that these were lily pads. I don't know how you knew, but you were looking for frogs. Unfortunately
we didn't see any. 

The beautiful surroundings.

Everything is possible.

You and Kendall took turns watering the plants at The Children's Garden in Chimney Court.

You asked why it said 'Valley' and I said it's because we were by the Don Valley. I don't think you understood.

Inside the Young Welcome Centre. You and Kendall wanted to pose with your butts out. Aish!

The Kilns building. This was a really neat space where bricks were once fired. 

There were lots of graffiti on the walls and equipment. You said they weren't graffiti, but Pokemon designs.
Now that I see it, it does sort of look like Pokemon designs.

Kendall in front of the many graffiti signs at the Brickworks.

Daddy wanted you to pose in front of this cry baby photo. I asked you why daddy wanted you to and you said,
"It's because I'm a cry baby." True dat!

We went over to The Pavilion to check out the Farmer's Market and most importantly, to check out the food.
We got this pulled pork thing from Pimenton and it was delicious!

Fish tacos. This was okay. We also got Jamie Kennedy's infamous frites, beef dumplings, chorizo sausage
wrapped in pastry, fresh oysters and fresh squeezed lemonades. 

My family.

Enjoying the view. What a great day we had.

"For the strong, silent type"

I have a weird obsession of loving watching kids eat french fries. I think it's the way their little hands hold the fries. Every time I watch you eating your fries when you are eating your Happy Meal, I pause and just stare. Am I a freak or what?

Maybe I started my obsession when I saw this 1987 McCain french fries commercial?

Today was Nate's birthday party. He turned 4 this year. We were invited for the celebration at 4pm so we decided to walk over. Too bad it poured as soon as we left the house and we got drenched!

Your cool rain gear outfit.

And guess who made a special appearance? Spiderman! 

Look how cute you guys are. I think you will be the best of friends when you are older.

Mario and Mario

Daddy got McDonald's takeout for you guys tonight as a special treat. Your Happy Meal toy was a Super Mario visor. So cute, no?

First dance performance

After last week's tantrum fiasco, I wanted to make sure you would go to your class today without a hitch. I talked to you all this week preparing for your dance class. I kept asking you all week, "Aidan, are you going to cry at dance class?" Where you would answer, "No!"

I then kept saying, "Remember, if you listen you get EVERYTHING. If you don't listen, you get…" And you would answer, "NOTHING!" Lately, you've been acting up and just being a total nightmare. It's really draining daddy and I out because we're already tired as it is. Every day is just go, go, go and having to deal with tantrums is just so… hard.

Luckily, you were pretty good today. You went in your class without any hesitation and I even got to go in near the end of the class to observe you. Because of your good behaviour I took you to Walmart where I treated you with your own Batman umbrella. You've been asking me for your own umbrella and it was the perfect day to get it as it was rainy. I even treated you with your favourite lunch- a cheeseburger (hold the pickels) happy mean at McDonald's. This is what happens when you listen!

Mom sal (translated from Korean, meaning body ache)

What a day I had! I experienced the little monsters to the extreme today :-S

I took a day off today because Kendall had her 15-month checkup today at 9:45am. I decided to just take a day off and spend time with Kendall (since I hardly see her during the work week). 

I dropped you off at daycare in the morning with Kendall and it was all fine. Kendall was surprisingly pretty good when I first got to the doctor's office. It's always very stressful when it's the checkup appointment because the doctor measures everything and the appointment usually involves getting shots. As soon as I took off Kendall's shoes, she started crying uncontrollably. I couldn't even get her to calm down even when I gave her veggie chips. Every single thing that the doctor told me to do- take of Kendall's clothes (to weigh her), hold her down (to measure her length), open her mouth (to check the back of her mouth), hold her head (to see inside her ears), etc. involved a fight. At one point, Kendall was kicking the doctors upper body while the doctor was trying to see inside her mouth. Kendall was crying to much that it took a good 15 minutes for the doctor to see her pupils- her eyes were closed shut crying. By the time it was all over I was in a ball of sweat and Kendall got the hiccups from crying so much. 

Here's where she is at right now:

Weight: 8.32kg or 18.34lbs (down from 8.37kg last time)

Head circumference: 44 cm (same as last time)

Height: 74cm (up from 70cm last time) 

And the bad news? Kendall lost weight and because she was experiencing diarrhea, the doctor couldn't administer the vaccination shots. The doctor told me I would have to come back in 2 weeks to give Kendall her shots. AND, she will most likely be weighing her again since the doctor was concerned about Kendall's weight. ACK! I'm definitely not looking forward to the follow-up appointment. 

When I got out of the appointment, daddy had texted me saying that he was leaving work early and meeting us at the doctor's office. We ended up having a nice lunch and doing errands- grocery shopping and picking up prescription medication (Kendall had an ear infection). I can't wait for the day when I can just do… nothing. No running errands, not making dinner, not picking up kids, not grocery shopping, the list goes on and on. I didn't realize being a parent was SO HARD.

Here's Kendall walking with daddy after the doctor's appointment. You wouldn't know it from this video that just a few minutes before she was a crying mess.

I guess all the crying made Kendall pass out in the car. She almost never sleeps in the car. She actually fell asleep holding onto her veggie chips. Aigoo, aigoo.

We stopped by a ramen place to have a quick bite to eat. Look how cute you are!

Drinking water, all by herself.

Such a good eater… That's why it puzzles me that you lost weight. I was sure you gained weight.

Waiting for more food.

Pretty Kendall.

So by the time everything was done and we got home, it was close to 3pm and time to pick up the original monster- monster 1. Tonight was your daycare's Halloween party so I wanted to make sure you got a bath, ate dinner and had time to change into your costume before heading out. You were looking forward to this party for a whole week now so I thought you would be loving it. Or so I thought…

The Halloween party was at a high school and the teachers converted the whole main floor into a
Halloween-themed room. It was AMAZING!

They had stations set up for activities. 

I present you Iron Man!
I don't know if the new environment made you anxious, but you were quiet, clingy and just not
looking like you were enjoying yourself. When teachers walked by and said hi to you, you just
turned away and said nothing. I hate that!

More of the Halloween decor.

There were close to 500 people at the party. 

All the teachers dressed up in costumes. It was pretty cool.

And the best part of this party? Why, it was the entertainment, of course! They had hired Bounce Entertainment and they were soooooo good! All the kids were on the dance floor dancing like crazy. I was so impressed and I thought you would be all over it seeing that they were playing all the songs that you knew on the radio and I know how much you love to dance. However, you just stood there sulking and you didn't do anything. I think you were the only kid that didn't dance. I kept encouraging you to have a good time, but you were so clingy to me. Eventually you loosened up a bit and actually danced a little bit, but not much. You decided in the end that you wanted to go back to the activity tables and we did some of that, but when the party drew to a close you started throwing a huge tantrum because you didn't want to leave. You actually ran away and when I didn't follow you, you came back and hit me! I was so angry! I tried putting on your jacket and your tantrums got even bigger. I couldn't even get it on and by that time you were screaming and crying. All the parents were looking at me and I was so embarrassed. By the time we got to the car I was about to explode. I screamed at you all the way home. I'm so upset that you aren't like the other kids and it frustrates me that maybe it's something I'm doing wrong. Why is it that you don't say hi to people? Why are you such a snob?? Why do you go crazy when things aren't going your way? Every single thing has to be a challenge for me. I constantly have to think of ways to get you to move onto another thing because once you get into something, it's like you are in a trance. 

When we got home, I was so mad that I didn't even want to see you. I told daddy what had happened and he got so mad. He tried to put you in time out, but that obviously doesn't work with you. Daddy gave you so much memme. I took a quick video of when you are in your tantrum stage. 

Mommy & Aidan day

It's definitely fun doing day trips with you because now I don't have to lug around a huge diaper bag and a lunch bag. You are now potty trained and if you're hungry, I can just buy you something to eat. Since Summer is coming to a close, I wanted to take you to the museum downtown and have a mommy and son day. Plus, it would be the first time you would be riding the subway. Fun!

We parked at Yorkdale and I took the umbrella stroller. Little did I know that Yorkdale doesn't
have an elevator so I had to lug the stroller up and down the stairs a few times. Not fun!
Other than that, it was a pretty fun adventure. You really liked the subway.

When we got out of the subway, you told me that you were hungry. Knowing what a picky eater
you are, I took you to a bistro that I sometimes go to during lunch. I ordered you a ham and
cheese sandwich. More gourmet than you're used to.

When we entered the museum, they had an activity set up near the entrance where kids could
make their own crowns with jewel stickers. 

I really liked the Korea section in the museum. Represent!
I loved these beautiful bottles.

And what beautiful vases.

Korea, the rabbit.

Korean manuscripts.

Dresser. Your Toronto grandparents' house used to have something like this.

You really loved the different sections in the museum. I was actually quite surprised how
interactive it was for children.

Daddy sent me a picture of Kendall. They stayed home while we went out.

Chinese building.

There was a section in the museum where it was all children activities and you immediately went to the sandbox where you pretended you were an archaeologist finding a dinosaur bone.

My little Indian Chief/Terracotta warrior.

Look how small you are.

Dinosaurs!

Aidan, say cheese!

After the museum I treated you with ice cream. There was a soft serve ice cream truck parked
outside of the museum. You obviously loved it!